Luxman vs. Accuphase

Rod,
I still have my Luxman 450 ( and matching tuner) from my high school days. That piece spoiled my ears for anything the local federated group, etc was selling. I still have it in my garage and it is always musical and sweet sounding. And yes the binding posts pretty much only accept bare wire

I used a Luxman L430 integrated amp for several years and I still have it as a backup in case an amp or preamp goes down. The L430 is quite heavy, it's well made and the only thing that's ever failed are some of the numerous small light bulbs in the front panel. It's sound quality isn't bad, but it's no stunner either. It can be used as either a power amp or preamp with a flip of a switch on the back panel. It sounds considerably better in either of those modes than it does as an integrated. I'd go with the Accuphase myself.

Between the two (L450 or E202), I would also go for the Accuphase - I think a better all-round amp originally. Given their age, the Luxman has probably lost all but utility value and while the Lux sounds "OK", I would agree with Photon46 that it's no stunner. If you can pick up these early 80s integrated amps at garage sales, you can get a stonking bargain sometimes but if you actually go out in the market to find one, the price could be high enough to put a lot of other more recent (and/or better?) used equipment into competition range.

When comparing more recent Accuphase and Luxman higher-end equipment (some or all of which does not make it to US shores), it is much more of an apples and oranges thing. Top-end Luxman from the past few years is competitive with the top SS amps out there (price is too).

I owned a Luxman L-430 integrated w/matching champagne finish digital tuner in the early 80's. I thought it was the stuff then, running it with Infinity, JBL L-100T & Klipsch KG-4's. I think it was end of the decent Luxman gear I'm not sure....they may have begun their decent before the issue of these models. I thought it was the stuff then & agree with all the above about binding posts. I remember having a channel go out on me one time & taking it to a local repair shop & when I picked it up the technician said "man this thing is really built". Of course at that time he was mostly working on big hollow, light SS boxes, Beta vhs & TV's. My dad still uses it in his seldom used system today...

Own an E 202 a P300 and C200 not even close Accuphase all the way You won't regret it